Dick Collins Fire Trails 50 Miler

A few weeks ago I ran the Dick Collins Fire Trails 50 mile ultra marathon...

The week prior to the event I had a busy week at my job.  We were busy changing out 35mm projectors for new digital projectors.  The projector change out took a lot of hours and kept me away from training the entire week before the 50 miler.  I figured this was good since I wanted to take it easy and rest the week before the race.  The only problem was that I didn’t have anytime at all to run or cross train at all.  I also was doing what I normally do when I get stuck working long nonstop days… I ate a lot of crappy food that I shouldn’t have been eating.  I normally don’t have the cleanest diet, but this week it was really off.  From all the fast food I ate while doing the install, and I was drinking soda all day, I put on a good 4 to 5 pounds over the week.

When the Dick Collins 50 miler came around, I was feeling a little heavy, but I wasn’t feeling too bad.  I ended up having a good time at the race.  While it wasn’t my 100% best effort, I had a good time out on the trail and spent a lot of the race running with different people and socializing.  The course was at times challenging and beautiful. 

I had an awesome time at the event.  I ran with some old friends, and ran with some new ones.  My parents meet me at all the aid stations along with my 6 year old son Brandon.  When I was starting to struggle a little in the last 7 miles of the race, I started running with a fellow runner named Bill.

Bill had an interesting day out on the trail.  He was on pace for around an 8 hour finish, but early into the race Bill took a pretty bad spill and ended up having to go to the hospital.  He cut his arm pretty good, and I think he had to get somewhere around 9 stitches in his arm.  After Bill got his stitches he decided to not make his trip useless, so he got back on the course after getting several stitches in the ER, and just started running.

Bill and I started randomly talking when we come upon each other somewhere around mile 43.  He told me about his accident, how he dropped out of the race, and was just out there enjoying the rest of the day.  We ran the remainder of the trail together to the finish line.

Right before we hit the finish line my son Brandon was waiting for me, and he jumped onto the last stretch of the trail with me and we crossed the finish line together.